Monday, 14 July 2014

Striking sentences

1. "UNESCO has designated Iowa City as one of its seven “Cities of Literature,” along with the likes of Dublin and Edinburgh". That's an aside from an article in The Atlantic about creativity. So much the worse for UNESCO, one is tempted to say.

2. "Today, working mothers spend almost as much time on child care as stay-at-home mothers did a generation before." That's from an article in the Economist about why young people nowadays are so up-tight and boring, and ought to be more into drugs, drinking and violence at their age, as their parents were. I paraphrase only a little.

3. "Overnight on 29th January 2012 the Defendant, Fatih Ozcan had a dream. In his dream he dreamt that he was holding a large bundle of cash and standing in front of him was the Claimant, Hayati Kucukkoylu, his employer. The Defendant is a strong believer in the power of dreams and interpreted this to mean that he and the Claimant would win the lottery. On 30th January 2012 a ticket was bought for the Euromillions Lottery which won the raffle prize of £1 million." This is a true story. It comes from the High Court decision of Kucukkoylu v Ozcan [2014] EWHC 1972 (QB). The question for the judge, HHJ Gosnell, was which of the two gentlemen in the dream was in fact entitled to the lottery ticket in real life. The answer is here.

About Further or Alternatively (FOA)

FOA read PPE at Oxford and is now a barrister based in London.
"Further or alternatively" is a phrase used by barristers to introduce a new argument that may or may not be consistent with the previous ones: FOA may or may not be consistent with your other reading.